The government led by Friedrich Merz (CDU) plans to abolish the traditional eight-hour workday. Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) announced during the government questioning in the Bundestag on May 6, 2026, that a corresponding draft bill will be presented as early as June.
Bas explained that the reform aims to introduce a weekly working time limit instead of the previous daily maximum working hours. The goal is to make working hours more flexible to better reconcile family and work. “It should not be exploitative,” the minister emphasized in Berlin.
However, trade unions have already announced resistance to the initiative, which is outlined in the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD. Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) had already called for the reform to be expedited at the beginning of the year so that the law can come into effect in 2026.
The planned regulation is seen as a significant step in German labor market policy, as it could affect the working conditions for millions of employees. The precise design of the regulations for electronic working time recording is considered crucial.
